


Warmth

by TheDarkFlygon



Series: Manager Duet - IoTsumu [10]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Love, Self-Indulgent, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29003544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkFlygon/pseuds/TheDarkFlygon
Summary: Iori comes home after a day of work. Domestic bliss ensues.
Relationships: Izumi Iori/Takanashi Tsumugi
Series: Manager Duet - IoTsumu [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1232528
Kudos: 5





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Happy IoTsumu Day everyone! I wasn't very inspired to write these two today, sadly, but I felt a sense of noblesse oblige to make this. It'd be hypocritical of me to whine about the lack of IoTsumu in the world and not honour their ship day, so here y'all go!  
> I love those two so much man.

As soon as he comes home, he can immediately feel it is, indeed, the one place he likes the most out there: the fragrance of vanilla and warmth of the electric heaters all around the flat are what truly makes it a happy place for him.

He hangs off his coat, scarf and gloves on the nearby hangers they installed together the other day, then makes his way in the main room of the apartment they also bought together, this time a couple years ago, shortly after he graduated college. Since then, it’s had the time and chance to grow into their home, rather than just a place to sleep and eat in.

The living room is to their image: cosy, walls and sofas in warm colours, the TV standing proudly on its stand with the matching coffee table, and a lot of little touches here and there. The scent in the room changes depending on the day or, rather, depending on who comes home first after work and what they feel like drinking: today just so happens to be the apple and cinnamon tea someone gifted them for their anniversary last year.

As soon as he steps into the living room, he hears the sound of something – or rather, someone – rise from their sitting position on the biggest sofa. Before he really knows it, Tsumugi is hugging him so tightly that he’s afraid he may lose his balance and hit the wall or the floor; but it doesn’t happen, or at least, not anymore. There was such a time where their habits weren’t that hard-set, where they were still experimenting with each other’s comfort zones and living together…

“Welcome home, Iori!” She greets him with a quick kiss on the lips, the kind that used to be all he could muster to give her. “How was your day?”

“As you can tell, our meeting got dragged out by last-minute reports and wordy speeches from some of our higher-ups, but aside from that, it’s gone well. How was yours?”

“It was great! I’m always in disbelief at how talented Tamaki and Sogo are, you don’t even imagine how amazing they look and sound even during stage practice! Actually, we had to wait until it stopped raining for a photoshoot today, so I was surprised to see you weren’t there yet when I came back from work. I got a little concerned, it’s not like you not to warn me ahead whenever that happens!”

“Ah, right, about that… My apologies for coming home so late. I wish I could have told you, but I was already in a meeting, and you know how aggravating it is to see people use their phones during those… I see that you’ve waited until now to eat dinner too…”

He can feel shame and guilt creep up his spine, but all she does is pick his hands into hers.

“It’s okay! I sometimes forget to tap “send” when that happens, so we’re even in that regard! Plus, I wasn’t going to eat alone, right?”

They’ve agreed, time and time again, that dinner is something they must share as much as they can. They’re both fairly busy individuals and may have last-minute changes from time to time (she’s the manager of an idol unit – she never truly sleeps with both eyes closed), so the evening is the only moment they can still share on a consistent basis. There is no way either of them are skipping on that, unless something forces them to do otherwise.

“I wouldn’t have held it against you if you did. It’s already half past eight.”

“Oh, shush! Just go sit down, I’ll heat it up and you can tell me about your day!”

He learnt a long time ago that cooperating is much better than insisting sometimes, so he does as she told him to, which means to sit at the dinner table not too far from the sofa. It’s only big enough for four persons: it’s usually more than good enough for them, but whenever they have guests, they need to improvise some way to fit everyone around the same table. It can be tricky, yet he doesn’t feel the need to invest in a new table and matching chairs just yet. Maybe later.

Tsumugi joins him merely minutes later, putting in front of each of them a bowl of ramen. She’s been experimenting with preparing these for the past few weeks, so he always feels like he’s taste-testing, a feeling he appreciates considering his feedback is something she considers very important to her improvement – and on that he very much agrees.

Their dinner banter is nothing out of the ordinary, as she tells him about what happened back at the agency and, along the way, gives him a couple crunchy anecdote. It’s still a little difficult for him to believe the Yotsuba he used to share a classroom with during high school became the “sexiest man in all of Japan” (implying he’s got a flair of maturity around him), but her silly little stories about how that man keeps being bribed with King Pudding remind him that not everything changes as people grow up.

He then replies with trivia from his own workday, usually centring around the class he homerooms for. By this point, he doesn’t even need to clarify who is who: she knows the surnames of the entire class and, for some, their personality as he sees it. It reminds me of their first meetings, where he’d pick up on a lot of little things about her and she’d remember most of the things they spoke about despite the fact he’d have thought they were only interesting to him, quick to change subjects whenever he perceived confusion or, even worse, boredom on her part.

Those days are long gone, of course, and there’s no hiding between the two of them as, simply put, there is no reason for them to: they fully trust each other with everything in their lives. She enables him to indulge in what he used to be so ashamed of (cute things, sweet treats, warm pastels) while he reminds her that she’s always got a pair of arms to welcome her and advice to improve on what she wants (her time and resource management, her eloquence, her cooking); they’ve found their balance and intimacy and it’s all he can ask for.

The world outside may be cold, grey and unpleasantly sad at times, but they both know they’ve got this one place where everything is warm and where loneliness isn’t a thing. That place is theirs and only theirs, and there is no sign clearer of that than the ring on his finger.


End file.
